Modern Layouts: Getting Out of Our Ruts // SF HTML5

In the early years of the web, there was a lot of variation and experimentation with where to put content on a web page. Then, it seems, we all settled into a handful of patterns and stayed there for over a decade. It wasn’t until the arrival of responsive design that new ideas for page layout started appearing. Now with new CSS properties for layout landing in browsers, we may be about to see a bigger renaissance in layout design patterns. How can we better use the space inside the glass rectangle? What layout innovations could help users better find and focus on what they want? Take a walk through where we’ve been, where we might be going, and how we can better design for the true medium at hand. This talk features practical examples of what's newly possible, along with access to a code repo for you to play with later.

Response to this talk on Twitter: https://storify.com/jensimmons/modern-layouts-at-sfhtml5
and on Meetup.com: http://www.meetup.com/sfhtml5/events/219966720/

Transcript

1. MODERN LAYOUTS
   Getting Out of Our Ruts THE WEB AHEAD thewebahead.net JEN SIMMONS @jensimmons #SFHTML5
13. The most prominent result from the new eyetracking studies is not actually new.
    We simply confirmed for the umpteenth time that banner blindness is real.
    —Jakob Nielsen, August 20, 2007, Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings
18. A C B A C B A C B A C B
46. The medium shapes the medium.
47. There’s a world of Graphic Design older than the web.
54. vogue.com
68. Layout should serve the content.
    
69. MAGAZINES
70. 1.
75. CSS Shapes
76. <h1>Jeremy Keith</h1> <img src=“jeremykeith.jpg"> <p>Jeremy Keith lives in Brighton, England where he makes websites with the splendid design agency Clearleft.</p>
77. img { float: left; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; }
78. img { float: left; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; shape-outside: circle(); }
79. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Shapes level 1 March 20, 2014 w3.org/TR/css-shapes
83. shape-outside: circle(); shape-outside: ellipse(); shape-outside: border-box; shape-outside: inset(0px round
 120px) border-box; shape-outside: url(http://
 example.com/image.jpg); shape-margin: 30px;
84. labs.thewebahead.net
85. github.com/jensimmons/thelayoutsahead
86. img { width: 50%; float: left; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; shape-outside: ellipse(50% 50%); }
87. img { width: 50%; float: left; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; border-radius: 100px; }
88. img { width: 50%; float: left; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; border-radius: 100px; shape-outside:border-box; shape-margin: 30px; }
90. img { width: 60%; float: left; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; shape-outside: polygon(50% 0, 100% 50%, 50% 100%, 0 50%); }
98. Shapes Level 1 — NOW! shape-outside: foo(); Shapes Level 2 — Later shape-inside: foo();
100. Vote for CSS Shapes! https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ show_bug.cgi?id=1040714 https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/257854-internet- explorer-platform/suggestions/6263716-shapes
101. 2.
107. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Exclusions Module Level 1 Oct 1, 2013 dev.w3.org/csswg/css-exclusions
108. Use Absolute Positioning to place an item (or CSS Grid). Then add property wrap-flow: wrap-flow: both;
111. 3.
118. main { transform: 
 rotate(-10deg); }
119. h1 { transform:
 rotate(-90deg); }
120. h1 { float: left; padding-bottom: 200px; transform: 
 rotate(-45deg); shape-outside: 
 polygon(nonzero, -58px 80.55%, 75.95% -70px, 89.55% -33.65%, -13.4% 121.45%); }
121. transform: rotate
122. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Transforms Module level 1 Nov 26, 2013, “refining” w3.org/TR/css-transforms
124. 4.
131. Multiple Column Layout
134. article { max-width: 500px; margin: 0 auto; }
135. article { column-count: 2; column-gap: 2em; }
137. article { // column-count: 2; column-width: 200px; column-gap: 2em; }
140. img { width: 100%; } article { column-width: 200px; column-gap: 2em; column-rule: 
 1px solid #444; }
141. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Multicolumn Layout Module April 12, 2011 w3.org/TR/css-multicol
145. CSS Regions
152. 5.
158. <main role="main"> <img src="../images/GraceHopper.jpg"> <div> <h1>Grace Hopper</h1> <p>Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and invented the first compiler for a computer programming language...</p> </div> </main>
159. img { float: left; margin-right: 2em; width: 50%; } div { padding: 2em; }
161. img { float: left; margin-right: 2em; // width: 50%; height: 100vh; } div { padding: 2em; }
163. img { float: left; margin-right: 2em; width: 50vw; height: 100vh; } h1 { font-size: 6vw; }
165. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; padding: 3em 6em; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin-top: 0; text-align: center; }
166. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; padding: 3em 6em; height: 100vh; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin-top: 0; text-align: center; }
169. Viewport Units
170. Anyplace you might use em, rem, %, px you can instead use: vh viewport height vw viewport width vmin smaller viewport number vmax larger viewport number
171. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Values and Units Module level 3 July 30, 2013 w3.org/TR/css-values
172. Text
174. 6.
176. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; min-height: 100vh; padding: 3em 6em; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin: 0; text-align: center; }
177. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; min-height: 100vh; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin: 0; }
178. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; min-height: 100vh; display: flex; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin: auto; }
179. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; min-height: 100vh; display: flex; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin: auto; }
181. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; min-height: 100vh; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; // margin: auto; }
182. header { border: 20px solid #000; background: yellow; min-height: 100vh; display: flex; align-items: flex-end; justify-content: flex-end; } h1 { font-size: 10vw; margin: 0; }
183. Flexbox
184. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Flexible Box Layout Sept 25, 2014 w3.org/TR/css3-flexbox
191. 7.
192. CSS Grid
193. Working Draft Last Call Candidate
 Recommendation Proposed
 Recommendation Recommendation CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1 May 13, 2014 w3.org/TR/css3-grid-layout
198. Old School Floats
204. When?
205. When Can I Use This in Production? (aka on a Real Website)
206. Why Did You Tell Me About 
 All This Stuff 
 I Totally Can’t Use Yet?
207. Do Websites Need To Look Exactly The Same in Every Browser?
208. DoWebsitesNeedToLook
 ExactlyTheSameinEvery
 Browser.com
210. Progressive Enhancement
212. When Can We Use This? Later Shapes Level 2 Exclusions Grid Maybe Never Regions What Was That 
 You Mumbled? Fragmentation Figures Overflow Now Shapes Level 1 Flexbox Viewport Units 5 Years Ago Transforms Multicolumn Layout Dynamic Grids 
 (odd numbers of columns, 
 ratio grids)
213. Hardest part is changing our thinking, not our CSS.
214. Magazines and The Web
218. Translate.
     Don’t Transfer.
222. (*Totally stolen from Karen McGrane’s incredible talk, Adapting Ourselves to Adaptive Content.)
225. The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ 
 — Grace Hopper
226. One Last Story
230. THE WEB AHEAD thewebahead.net JEN SIMMONS @jensimmons Thank you!